


Trompe-l'œil

by glimmerFae (harmicist)



Series: The Weight of Love [6]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Friends With Benefits, Implied McCree/Reyes, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor Jesse McCree/Sombra | Olivia Colomar, Moira is a complicated person, Overwatch Recall, Plot Starts Chapter 2, Team Talon (Overwatch), ch 1 is introspective, implied ana/moira
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:15:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25795738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmicist/pseuds/glimmerFae
Summary: Trompe-l'œil; a French phrase that meant, ‘to deceive the eye.’  The entire persona of Sombra was just that- a work of art, an optical illusion meant to deceive the Eye, meant to hide the girl once known as Olivia Colomar, meant to find the worlds secrets and see reality for what it actually was.Once she’d been alone and served only herself.  Now, she was none of the things she had been before, and that included no longer being alone.Sombra couldn’t help but feel like things had been a lot easier when she only had to worry about looking out for herself.
Relationships: Sombra | Olivia Colomar/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix
Series: The Weight of Love [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/825501
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is a part of my weight of love series, focusing on Sombra with a serious piece of Spiderbyte. I totally forgot to originally write this when I posted this from my drafts. While it goes over much of the same events as what is written about in the other works of this series, it does stand alone as a Sombra fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it!

Once, she’d been a person. Her name had been Olivia Colomar, her parents had died when the war was going on, and like so many other orphans she was left to the system. Lost to the system. When she had been very young, she’d loved dancing for her _mamí_ , the woman’s image lost to time, but the memories remained. When she’d been very young her father would have her on his lap and they’d work together on his computer. She’d had a life, once.

Once she’d been very young and she’d come out from hiding in the depression under her bed, and found two pools of blood and gore and she’d been alone, one of many left that day, wandering the streets in a state of shock until a soldier rounded them up, all knowing that she was just another one that night, brought to the old military fort to be safe from the towns where omnics roamed and attacked.

Once, she’d been a girl just trying to make a living for herself in a small town in the middle of darkened Mexico, and she’d had to be tricky and conniving, and she’d been good at it. Human beings, machines, they were both capable of monstrosities. And she could control them both. She needed only to apply the right pressure to the right places, execute the right code.

Once, it had been easy.

Then she was seen, for the first time in her life, and to be seen, to be caught, and to be at risk…it had been too much.

The Eye had seen her, had damned her, and had broken all of her tech in that same night. All for looking into LumériCo’s shady dealings in her own damn country. It hadn’t even been the worst or boldest thing she’d gotten herself into.

So she had had to change her tactics.

Now, she had to be a shadow, an illusory person who didn’t exist. Sombra. Enacting her clever plans globally, still pulling those strings, but having to be ever so careful about it. Lest she be seen again.

No one could hack like she could. Machines, people- she’d find her way into the system. Organizations and societies weren’t that different, just bigger, and her game became more complicated. But she’d get what she came for. No one would stop her from her goal of unveiling the hand at work here.

She had only ever looked out for herself.

In Talon, she’d been convinced she was a lion in the den with all the rest of them, and yet she’d stupidly forgotten that lions hunt in packs.

When she’d been a rookie, her pack had been a big brute named Mauga, and the combat medic Baptiste. Baptiste and Mauga had been on the same team, with Nguyen as their handler, under Cuerva. Sombra was more like Nguyen than anyone else on their team, and so they’d only really had time to chat at HQ in Rome.

Four years ago, Baptiste left, cut and ran straight out of dodge. Sombra couldn’t blame him, seeing how he was too inherently _good_. He wasn’t made out of the same material as Mauga or herself- though it was equally as strong, if the line of corpses of his former teammates had anything to say about it.

But Olivia, the girl who wasn’t allowed to exist, had mourned his absence just as much as Mauga had.

Three years ago, Sombra was noticed in the way she’d planned to be. She knew Nguyen was jealous, as was everyone else more tech and analytics focused in Talon. But none of them had the cunning she did. Stealing that Overwatch hero’s chronal accelerator design and making it her own had skyrocketed her to importance, to relevance in the field.

She wasn’t a grunt anymore, and she also wasn’t tech support, talking over lines of communication and fiddling with the enemies behind a veil. Now was her time to act, her path forward clear, decided, certain. 

Her new pack was a group of individuals that were every bit as unique as she was, and brought their own skills to the party. The Reaper, once known as Gabriel Reyes, she’d found after enough snooping when she’d been a grunt. Then there was Dr. O’Deorain, who rarely joined them on the field but had a special relationship with Reaper. Sigma, a mentally broken older man who could bend gravity to his will who was their newest, though he was technically still apart of Vialli’s circle.

And then there was Widowmaker. Formerly known as Amélie Lacroix. Their sniper whose skin was blue and eyes glowed amber, and who lorded over the battlefield.

Trompe-l'œil; a French phrase that meant, ‘to deceive the eye.’ The entire persona of Sombra was just that- a work of art, an optical illusion meant to deceive the Eye, meant to hide the girl once known as Olivia Colomar, meant to find the worlds secrets and see reality for what it actually was.

Once she’d been alone and served only herself. Now, she was none of the things she had been before, and that included no longer being alone.

Sombra couldn’t help but feel like things had been a lot easier when she only had to worry about looking out for herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra begins to play an even more dangerous game when she decides to place herself in the warpath of 76 as a man chasing the same goal she was: dirt on what LumériCo was up to. Talon sets about lighting the carefully lit spiderwebs on fire, as Reaper aims for Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

“Where are you off too?” Reaper growled, as Sombra sat in the transport wing of the Rome base.

“Uh, you don’t need me right now.” She said, tartly. “I’m allowed to do my own business on my own time- and my business is not Talon’s concern. And as you took me off the Gibraltar mission, I’m on my own time.”

Reaper smoked as he looked her over, the man towering over her, and the woman didn’t flinch. “What if I need back up? If the device you made doesn’t work.”

“Awh, you need me for back up? So sweet.” She said, feigning being touched, before letting her face go slack. “The device will work fine. Just make sure to get it in properly and it’ll immediately start transmitting data out.”

“If it doesn’t…” He threatened, implicitly, and the grunt that was flying her out to Mexico popped his head in meekly, obviously not wanting to get close at all to Reyes and his fury.

“If it doesn’t, then something happened with the monkey when you choose to confront him.” Sombra brushed off easily. “Which is why this was my mission. But you sniped the mission from me, and now you get to play spy again! Just like old times, right? Anyways,” She said, standing. “I have a 8 hour flight to be getting to. I’ll be back before you know it.” She teased, lightly. “Reconvening in Cairo, right?”

Reaper stopped her with a hand against the doorframe, and Sombra raised an eyebrow up at the bleached bone white mask, unimpressed. “Things are about to get busy.” He said, as though trying to impart the seriousness of that on her.

“Uh, for you,” She snorted. “I’ve _been_ busy.” Sombra gestured behind her, making a face as Sigma floated behind her, being escorted back to his lab in Rome. “Vialli doesn’t know what to do with him, and plenty of the others are starting to complain about the property damage. I was lead on what went down over in Athens. It wasn’t pretty, there’s bound to be talk again about Vialli’s stupidity.”

Reyes snorted as Sigma passed. “It won’t be the only thing up for discussion.” He intoned lowly. “Cairo, though, yes. There’s work to be done on Anubis.” He agreed, standing straight up. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Don’t worry,” She said, breezy. “I’m not one of Vialli’s.”

"You're one of mine." Reaper said as he moved his arm. "But McCree was too, Sombra. And now he's on the wrong side of this. You'd do well to remember that."

Sombra grunted as she moved away, giving him a side glare as she turned that information over in her mind.

XXXXX

In spite of everything, in spite of the decade she’d spent in Talon, much of it in Rome, her home was always bound to be Dorado. After a quick pop in at the bakery after a long flight that had landed her far out of the city, she found herself surprised when she spotted a lone figure wandering the back alleyways with her.

And frankly, he wasn’t really even meandering.

“Come on, give it back! I need it!” Sombra stopped in her tracks as she listened in. That was the bakery’s daughter, Alejandra. Only 13 years old, but Sombra recognized the daughter of her high school friend in an instant. Of course, Marisol had been a senior when she’d been a freshmen, but the community had grown tighter knit in the aftermath of the crisis, even though most were not necessarily approving of her ties to Los Muertos.

But that was why she only walked around town invisibly. Olivia Colomar disappeared years ago.

She frowned as she put away her sweets and dinner into her bag, and watched closely from afar, the man in the white leather coat listening in as well, red visor glowing as his fists tightened, and she recognized him in that instant.

Christ, what was Soldier: 76 doing in Dorado, of all places? Sombra could only hazard a guess, and she briefly touched her communicator, wondering if she should call this in, before thinking better of it.

The young goons who’d been beating up one of the local omnics had their ride show up, and ran off, the bright blue moneybag held tight in their hands, hopping on the car. Buffoons. Sombra hated what Los Muertos had become in recent years. Omnics weren’t the enemy. The system was. The system had just convinced these idiots that omnics were the issue.

When they were both being unscrewed over it. She pinged an old friend, the omnic member of Los Muertos who had been forced out after change of leadership 7 years ago following the Null Sector uprising in London that had made many question Omnic’s abilities to be loyal in a community.

Thorn: are you sure they need help?  
Thorn: bad night to go out; big weapons transfer.

Sombra grumbled, messaging back quickly.

Branch: ik there’s a big weapons transfer tonight. but trust me, those buffoons have bigger issues than you giving this guy a helping hand.  
Rose: are you going to finally do something about this??  
Rose: idiots have been causing a huge ruckus lately  
Rose: they still respect you.

She winced as the omnic’s long-term girlfriend wrote in their group chat, and Sombra quickly typed back.

Branch: no, its not that easy. go get them off the street before someone has the bright idea to harvest them for scrap metal.   
Branch: theres someone in town I have to keep an eye on.  
Thorn: fuck hes in bad shape.  
Branch: you know how things have been.  
Rose: wait- where’s Ale?  
Rose: her mom will be worried sick  
Branch: ive got an eye on her too.  
Rose: she’s calling me oh no

She moved forward, translocating to the rooftops to get a better angle and follow after the visitor, refusing to lose sight of her quarry now that she had a good view of him.

It was almost like déjà vu. She’d watched Reaper fight a million times by this point, as Gabriel (back when he wasn’t their agent, even) and then as Reaper. If she could pretend she didn’t see the reddish skin of the pale forehead, she could pretend that _was_ him. But it wasn’t.

He took care of the goons with military precision, but also a violence that she’d never attributed to Morrison beforehand. It wasn’t necessarily like him.

It _was_ a lot like Reyes, though.

Sombra hummed as she watched from the shadows, Alejandra in much the same position she was, but far more scared of it all.

She could hardly blame the girl. She’d been 13 once too.

Sombra grabbed her gun when she saw Soldier make eye contact with the little girl, prepared to act, because she knew Reyes, but she did not know Morrison. She hoped that the two were similar enough that in spite of threats to children, they weren’t targets of violence.

“Get on the truck, let’s go!” Shouted one of the many younger members of her gang to collect the fallen, many bodies left littering the street, orphans like herself, who wouldn’t be missed.

“You don’t get off that easy!” Morrison shouted, far rougher than what Sombra could remember from watching news reports over the years.

“Eat this!” One of them shouted as he unpinned a grenade, and tossed it into the alleyway where Morrison and Alejandra both were, laughing as the truck took off, and Sombra watched in horror as the bomb landed at the younger girls feet, detached anger at the world that let 13-year-old girls take on this much weight, and yet, so little.

Her shock and horror turned into acceptance and morbid curious, as Morrison struggled with the same decision she did. To help, or not to help.

Sombra could not get there in time, the girls death was sealed, and if she acted, she would die too.

But Morrison leapt just before the blast, taking the brunt of it, burn and shrapnel and all. He kept the girl’s head held tight to his chest, to protect it from the fall down at the end of the explosion, Sombra having to back away from the blast herself.

The smoke cleared, and Sombra approached the edge again, staring over where the old Soldier stood, clearly injured, growling in just the same way Reaper always did, the two dark reflections of the other.

She took back out her dinner, and walked away, enough surveillance done that night, and a certain set of members to pull records on in retaliation for the unnecessary violence to one of their own.

XXXXX

A long night, day, and not enough sleep- as per usual these days- later, Sombra found her quarry standing outside of the new facility, red visor staring at it balefully while she chewed gum as she pondered the problem they were both faced with.

Portero’s newest nuclear power plant was a stain on her city, as it was in every other. Saying Sombra didn’t like Portero, the Viper, was an understatement. The man had taken his status as a war hero, and had made himself the mad king of Mexico, taking a huge chunk of the Mexican people’s funds to line his pockets and build the power plants all over Mexico. She hated that one had managed to find its way into Dorado, of all places.

She knew what was coming. Another Crisis, worst than the last, and with all of Mexico dependent on his grid for power, he’d have a stranglehold that would last longer than Sombra’s lifetime.

That was why she planned to stop it, and with 76 here, she had an opportunity unlike any other. She blew, and popped a bubble, and watched as the visor found her in the darkness.

Sombra was capable of many things, but she also didn’t want to go this alone if she could blame anything on someone else.

She didn’t need backup. She was a capable agent of chaos in her own right. Simply put, having another criminal around her was good enough bait for Portero’s stupid fucking security detail that had let her in and out of the building to do small harm, implant small bugs.

Her latest trick had been to make his brand new coffee machine into a little torture device for the staff on hand, acting as a listening device as well. Something she had done on her first night back in town.

She flashed her red symbol at him, the stylized T making it obvious that she wasn’t just a random civilian girl out past her bedtime getting flour, before she turned around, vanishing into the shadows, and turning on her invisibility cloaking device.

Sombra watched as the papers that spoke of her current exploits against his current quarry flew from their stand, littering the floor where she’d once been, and she knew that she had 76’s attention.

If Soldier 76 wanted to know what LumériCo was up to, there’d be no one better to talk to than Sombra herself. The Newspapers explained that clearly, given her latest exploits and threats to Portero and LumériCo over the past several days.

She’d made some playful edits to this particular edition of the papers, though, that he’d notice if he’d already read the news, which she knew he had, given she’d been keeping a careful eye on the visitor while he remained in her city. It’d lead him to an address, where she’d be waiting.

He’d hunt her down, and so, she had work to do to make sure this was worth the trouble.

XXXXX

It took him 3 hours. She wasn’t necessarily impressed, but also not unimpressed. He wasn’t the lead of a covert ops branch of the worlds biggest paramilitary force, after all. He was just stealing the act of one.

Sombra sat with her baseball hat on, tossing a data cube up and down as she watched him enter the abandoned house of one of the dead goons from the other night.

“So, you came.” She said, lofty. “I was wondering if you’d show up.”

76 stared at her, intense, visor glowing harshly in the night. “So _you_ lead Los Muertos and the Sombra collective. Should have figured those assholes would be linked to Talon somehow.” He growled behind his mask, leather gloves cracking against his tight fist.

She raised an eyebrow, wondering how he came to that conclusion. “Uh, I don’t even know where to start with how wrong you are. I used to be a member of Los Muertos, years ago. I’m way too young to lead them, I was 5 when they were formed. Back during the endless midnight. So many kids like little Alejandra, left to fend for themselves after the war.” She said, darkly, knowing it’d hit a sore spot for Morrison. “Now, every now and again, I stop in, pull a few favors.” Sombra said, bored. “When I’m not busy with my other work.”

“You’re still apart of the Sombra collective. What does Talon want with them?” He asked, and Sombra, sighed, rolling her eyes.

“There is no collective.” She said, simply, no need to hide her secret from another figure lost to the dark of the night. “I am simply Sombra.” She did a little bow. “And you’re Soldier 76. I’ve been watching you.”

He growled at her, tellingly, and Sombra smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not here on Talon’s business. I just had to give you some incentive to come after. I know all to well, that no one pays attention to the girl.” She wandered forward.

Sombra twisted her baseball cap to cover her face as she walked beside him, the armed presence in the city during the days approaching the opening of the new facility. “I know you’re not happy about this, but come on. You know I have information you want, and we share a common enemy.”

“LumériCo.” Soldier grunted, his visor blocking her view of his face. “It’s the only thing stopping me from killing you.”

“Oh, come now.” She folded her arms, faking a pout. “We’re on the same side here, Soldier: 76.”

“I am not on your side. I am not on _Talon’s_ side.” He denied, and Sombra smiled as he brought up her employers. “They’re going to pay for what they’ve done.”

“Oh, they will.” Sombra hummed, mildly. “But, Portero _isn’t_ Talon.” She dropped that little tidbit in. “Not at all. It’s funny how that works.” She watched, knowingly, as Soldier stopped, and looked at her intensely, the mask glowing faintly in the low light.

“Is that why you’re after him?” He asked, and Sombra shook her head, bemused.

“Hah! Of course not. Maximilien knew what he signed up for when he pushed me to this position. I’m nobody’s lapdog or puppet. I have my own goals.” She explained, easygoing, continuing forward. “But…somebody is financing him. And if it’s not Talon…”

“Then who?” Soldier realized where she was going with that, and she nodded, pleased that he’d understood her point.

“I have my theories.” She teased. “All I know is that he’s a viper in it’s pit. Oh, and that he has a huge plan to seize huge chunks of land all over Mexico, and a pending deal with Vishkar for here, in Dorado.”

She paused, and let that simmer. “I know that those Los Muertos goons last night put a sour taste in your mouth. Don’t worry. _I’ll_ deal with them. No one messes with the kids here and gets away with it under my watch.” She said, firmly. “I was one of those children. It’s one of the few things I still _can_ do for the people here. I’d like you to…work with me. Help me get back into LumériCo. They’ve been expecting me. What I’ve been working on will finally expose Portero for the Viper he is.” She cracked a smile.

“And you’ll like what you find too. I know that you said that you don’t believe in my theories, but…well.” Her grin widened. “Let’s say that a few of the files he’s got his stubby fingers on will surprise you, Mr. Morrison.” She taunted him with his name, and he tilted his head at that.

“How did you know?” He asked, concerned.

She looked him up and down, and gave him an unimpressed look. “Were you actually trying to hide your identity?” She said, sarcastically, and he seemed a bit taken aback. “It was obvious. And even then. Portero helped confirm it for me.”

“He’s got files on _me_?” He asked, shocked, and Sombra nodded, nice and slow, realizing that this was what would cinch the deal.

“Like I said. He’s a man of many secrets, and he’s expecting you. Let’s not keep him waiting, shall we?”

XXXXX

Reaper’s assessment of Morrison, based on all records she’d gotten her hands on so far, was completely correct. He really did charge in without thinking.

That was more than fine with her. It wasn’t like she had a lot of time left to pull off this particular stunt, with the grand opening of the new power plant and headquarters for LumériCo only days away.

The stunt itself was simple. Break in together, get as much access to the physical backups as they could, and get out. As skilled at hacking as Sombra was, there was some data only stored on local systems that needed more direct touches.

And a new mug on the camera feed would help make sure that she wouldn’t be noticed.

She’d much rather 76 take the fall, than Portero try and track her down themselves. The longer she kept this guise of anonymity, the better. 

The two worked surprisingly well together. She’d enter a space, and he’d follow up on her targets.

It wasn’t long before she realized why the two were working together so well.

It was just like working with Reaper, if he had a better attitude about, well, just about everything, including teamwork. His track record left much to be desired, she’d found.

Morrison, meanwhile, worked much better as a team. Having someone else beside him made him a little bit more careful, she noticed. She wondered if that spelled anything out for the future, and while she wouldn’t leave anything off the table, she also wouldn’t keep her hopes up for anything personally.

He’d bitched and moaned the whole time about Talon and she’d had to roll her eyes and deflect the entire time. She wasn’t here on Talon business. This was personal.

This was her home.

The pile of bodies and casualties was starting to add up, meaning they really were on the clock now.

However, Soldier paused, and Sombra groaned. “We’ve already got copies of those files, 76.” She said, urgently. “We need to go. The less footage they have of us together, the less work I do later removing it.”

He seemed fixated, on two photographs over the files. “Soldado: 76,” The file said in bright letters. And then the other said, “Jack Morrison.” The first photograph was of Jack Morrison, and the other…

Sombra whistled as she plucked it off the table, looking it over. “Gabriel Reyes.” She said, curiously. “Now what’s _he_ doing in this pile?”

“I was wondering the same thing.” Soldier said, growling lowly.

Sombra hummed as she turned it over, getting a good look at the man in his prime. “I thought he died.” She goaded, lightly. “In the same explosion that you were in.”

“That’s what the public was told.” He agreed, seeming to be coming to the same conclusion she was. “How does LumériCo know that he and I are similar enough to both be potential candidates?”

“He was number 24, though, wasn’t he?” Sombra said, unimpressed, and Soldier glared at her tellingly. Sombra gave a knowing smile. “Hey, I wondered what the significance of the 76 was, back when you first made headlines. A girl got curious, found out some interesting secrets in that mountain base.” She put the photo down. “But those two files were already gone. 76 and 24- you, and Reyes. Since I know who you are under that mask,” She hummed, gesturing him up and down. “I figured that Reyes had to have been 24, the only other file conspicuously missing.”

“It might have been your people.” Soldier said, and Sombra shrugged. She’d thought the same at varying points, it wasn’t a hard stretch, the puzzle piece fit in the hole. Yet no matter how she looked at it, the picture didn’t quite look right.

“Yeah, of course, but I’ve been neck deep in their files for _years_ now, soldier. It’s strange I haven’t found it yet, if it was them. The only place that I’ve yet to completely submerge myself in is medical and research, and that’s because the people who work in it are… hm, let’s call them _twitchy_.”

“And they usually have a good enough understanding of tech to be suspicious of it.” Morrison completed her thoughts, and Sombra nodded, glad to hear someone appreciative of her craft.

“Exactly! It’s a problem I’ve spent a good while trying to solve, and I am good at getting into places I shouldn’t be. I’ve almost got a way in. I’ll admit, I was fairly disappointed when my friend left Talon, seeing as a promotion would have been the easiest way into it, but… I suppose you know that Dr. O’Deorain’s got some interesting side gigs.”

He growled, but nodded. “Of course that bitch is in on this.” He muttered, to Sombra’s delight.

“I knew we could help each other.” She said, pushing him out of the area. “But we really do have other stuff to still do in here before we go. And the longer we’re here, the more we mess with, the more work _I_ have to do _afterwards_.”

The two of them continued through LumériCo’s facility, Sombra clearing agents where she could in her way, Soldier becoming just as brutal as he needed to be.

The two really were alike, she thought to herself. But she’d keep that thought held tight, close to her chest. If Jack knew at this moment she had information as to Reaper’s whereabouts, he’d leave her here. And, well. She wanted someone else to keep up the appearance of the collective, at least.

“Anyways, Dr. Creepy isn’t high up on my likes either, but she has her uses.” Sombra announced during a lull. To herself, she knew that she was the only thing standing between Gabriel Reyes and death. “And I’ve spent too long trying to get close enough that I’m allowed into that circle to waste opportunities now, so don’t get any crazy ideas.”

“She’s over in Oasis right now, anyway. To heavily protected by the city to be touchable, not without a better team.” He sighed, heavily. “I never thought I’d ever see Gabriel’s point on the matter, but I’d really like to pull my own Rialto stunt with her as the target.” He said to himself, and Sombra thought that over carefully.

What interested her was the sort of delineation between Soldier talking about his future plans for Reyes and whatever had been before. The same couldn’t be said of her meager interactions with Reaper.

“Definitely no Rialto, please.” She said instead. “God, imagine the cleanup of an op like that in Oasis? That city is too suspiciously clean for my liking, but there’d inevitably be a lot more civilian casualties.” Sombra pressed onwards, the two of them managing to get into LumériCo’s data room, the big machinery bringing a sense of ease to Sombra.

Soldier relaxed once they were inside, and Sombra had shot out the cameras, before she set herself up.

He was quiet, almost subdued as she removed her long faux fingernail, the tiny device extending itself out as she plugged herself in, ready to download the database.

“You’ve gone awful quiet. Having second thoughts?” She asked, her smile cutting through the words, knowing she was pressing on buttons.

“Not about this.” Soldier disagreed, pacing the room. “But about older decisions. McCree was right about one thing. That’s where it all started to go wrong.” He bunched up his hands, and then let them go.

Again, McCree. A mysterious Blackwatch figure who was the right hand of its’ father and the organization itself. Her files on the subject were infuriatingly empty. Not even a photograph of the man remained in the Overwatch files. Whoever had done his online security post-Zurich had done it well, and it pissed her off, honestly. She’d actually gone back through the old stupid Overwatch cartoons trying to find him, and none of the episodes with Gabriel Reyes had any indication of who the man was.

(There was one dumb background character often seen with Amari’s cartoon daughter, who had been called McCree, but Sombra refused to believe that was anything but the writers hearing rumors about a McCree and making something up to fit that gap.

The character had worn a cape, a stupid cowboy hat, and _spurs_ for gods sake. What kind of Black Ops agent was _that_?)

“You know, you’re not bad backup to have.” Sombra said instead of asking, knowing that pressuring that one little point would get the old man to clam right up. “I would have thought otherwise. My coworkers always seem to get a little impatient with me at this part.”

“I-” Soldier said, paused, and looked away, expression crumpled beneath the mask, evidenced by the creases in his forehead. “I used to have a coworker like you.” He said, soft. “Not in how you act, but how you work. She would have loved your work as much as she would have hated it from a security standpoint.”

Dr. Mina Liao immediately came to mind as the only option, as the three other powerful women in Overwatch were a politician, a solider, and another soldier. The forgotten founding member of Overwatch had been one of the smartest if not the smartest member (she’d gotten into many arguments online over the merits of Liao vs Lindholm), and the woman had died far too young in an attack on an Overwatch base. It’d been the first big stint that Talon had made itself known as an enemy to Overwatch.

It’d been a waste.

Something a teenaged Olivia Colomar had cried about in her shitty room in the Castillo fort with the other Omnic Crisis orphans that had long since stopped being kids, reading the tragic details about one of her heroes passing. She’d gone to the bakery that day in the main town and the grandmother who ran the place cooked her up a lot of sweets as they talked through how even heroes can die.

It was a strange comparison, but not an unflattering one. 

“Ahah, and done.” She said, pleased as her symbol vanished back into nothingness, and she pulled out her device, putting it back into the fingernail. “Everything we came for and more. I’m going to have a time of this.” She preened as she flattened it down with her thumb pressing into the nail.

“Wait.” Soldier said, shaking his head. “We should check Portero’s stuff too. You said he isn’t Talon, that he’s being funded by someone else.” He intoned. “So…”

“Follow the money.” Sombra realized his point, and nodded gesturing up ahead. “I’ve tried to get into the computer, but I’ve not had luck getting him out of the room long enough. I know the password, but all the same. He had been guarding it like a hawk. The attack tonight should give me enough cover…” She said, biting her lip. “But there’s no time to waste if we’re doing that. Let’s go, old man.”

She rushed forward, Soldier close behind her.

XXXXX

Soldier did the honors of shooting out the camera in the corner as they entered, and Sombra turned on the lights.

The viper’s office was decorated like he was some kind of emperor. Sombra knew, of course, that he lived like this, but at the same time, to see all the privately owned artifacts locked up in his private office sent another wave of anger through her.

“Are these real?” Soldier asked her, looking over them himself, and Sombra nodded, tightening her fists before she sat down at his desk and got to work. 

“When LumériCo has built, they’ve often found and displaced ancient sites.” Sombra said as she mindlessly did this piece. A personal computer in a private office never had the security protocols in place that made this actually difficult for her. “Only the desk is a modern piece."

“I assumed, from the LumériCo symbol on it.” He admitted, walking around the room, looking over the artifacts. “I never realized he would do such a thing.”

“Not every hero of the crisis was in it for humanity.” Sombra said as she found the files she was looking for. She popped them open, her eyes dark as she read over the information she already knew about Portero.

“My god.” Soldier said as he came up behind her. “This has been going on for years, and we never even suspected.” He said, reading the emails, documents, and various filings.

“He’s been using the company as his own personal piggy bank, but that’s only something useful to the press.” Sombra said, shaking her head. “No one ever wondered why a private company was building nuclear plants all over Mexico? How one man having exclusive control over the energy infrastructure of a whole country would lead to terrible things? Bribes, tax breaks, working with people in power supposed to safeguard the future of Mexico.” She sat back in Portero’s chair, and let her anger go.

“Well, I knew they weren’t doing that for a long time.” She muttered. “A generation of forgotten children, and for what? Consolidation of power, as it always is.”

Soldier stepped in from behind her, and started flipping through other documents. “And there’s the relationship with Vishkar. A development in Dorado?”

“That’s why the power plant is so important.” Sombra said, grimacing. “With the entire city’s power dependent on one structure, Vishkar will have a major tool to control the populace. All those kids he stuffed away in that old fort are coming back to haunt him.”

“And Vishkar are high class scum.” Soldier agreed, shaking his head. “One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t do more to stop their rise to power. Christ. They want to be an empire, don’t they?”

“They already have a few successful colonies.” Sombra hummed as she loaded the information onto her data cube. “I’ve been helping the resistance in Rio, but there’s been quite a bit of pushback. Techies are a bit harder to mess with than old soldiers. Regardless, this will be perfect for the data dump I’ve been planning. Hopefully it’ll buy Dorado some time.”

“If people believe you, that is.” Soldier 76 darkly pointed out. “They might be able to worm their way out of this one yet. The powers that be were able to turn me into an unreliable source, and of all of us, I had the best record. What will they think about you?”

“That’s why I’m putting it out there as a leak!” Sombra defended, but felt that awful pang in her stomach. “If the people want to doubt their own eyes, then that is on them. And when it all comes horribly true, it will be on them.”

“That's what Gabriel always used to say about Talon.” He sighed, shaking his head, his fists tightening. “All the proof right in front of their eyes, and yet, nothing ever came of it. All the proof in the world that Antonio was Talon, irrefutable evidence… and yet, we were the bad guys.”

Sombra knew exactly what he meant, too. Knew he had a point.

“It’s why I finished playing by their rules. The fight ain’t over, even though they wanted us out of the ring.” He slung his pulse rifle, stolen out of Overwatch’s own Helix controlled warehouse over his shoulder. “And everyone who ever had a hand in taking us down will pay.”

“Good luck with that.” Sombra rubbed her temples. “Transfer complete,” She said, removing her device and putting it away. “Now comes the rest of my job. I got something you’ll be interested in, if you come with me back to base in Castillo.”

“You won’t be doing anything funny now, will you?” Soldier asked, that line of trust obviously thin, and Sombra’s smile flattened out slightly.

“Of course not. My extracurriculars are my own. I needed to get a few things in place for an upcoming work excursion.” She hummed. “Don’t you want to know what information I have to pay you with for all the help?”

“You’re assuming I didn’t already get what I needed out of here too?” Soldier asked, and Sombra paused, realizing she hadn’t necessarily been paying the closest attention to his activities.

“Still.” She said, lofty. “You don’t have to, if you’ve already got what you were here for. There’s just so much information you can get if you work in Talon. About people who are our enemies. Missions we failed. People like you.”

He shifted, obviously tempted.

Sombra’s smile lifted, and she knew she had him.

XXXXX

The old fort she had an apartment in had a bar close by that the two wound up in, and that’s where Sombra got the old man to take off his mask.

Two long scars trailed his face, and Sombra sobered in spite of the drink in front of her, able to easily conjure up the thought of Reaper’s talon’s digging into pale skin. Morrison said nothing, looking at her expectantly, deadly serious.

Without a word, she pulled out her data cube, and put up the wanted poster first, flipping through images.

“She’s called the Shrike.” She explained, faking disinterest in his reaction. “She stole a decent amount of Overwatch tech from the old outpost in Cairo, not that you could call it stealing given how open the base is there. Helix would track her down, if they weren’t already busy with us.”

Jack stared at the poster for a long time, eyes darkening slightly.

“She’s a sniper?” He asked, in lieu of asking her name, and again, Sombra smiled, nodding, knowing that when Morrison showed up, he’d mess up that whole ecosystem. He’d finally find Reaper, and Gabriel would see he was alive.

She couldn’t wait to see how it all played out.

“I have my theories as to who she is, nothing concrete.” She sipped her drink. “Think you can manage a trip across the Atlantic, old man?”

“I have some old friends who are willing to help.” He agreed, voice low, growling as his fingers ran over the holo projection. “Strings I can pull.”

“Good, because I’m busy.” She harrumphed. “I hope that this is enough for me to have a favor in the future.”

“Really? That’s all you wanted from me?” Soldier tilted his head. “A favor.”

“That’s all this world is built on anymore.” She mused, tapping her fingers against the glass, rubbing its base in circles on the wooden bar. “That’s all friends are, isn’t it? Things to be used in a pinch, and as other’s liabilities.” She pointed out, and he went quiet himself.

“We’re in over our heads, aren’t we?” Soldier asked her, and Sombra nodded, picking her drink up.

“Well, I’m fine. _You_ might be.” She teased back. “I am serious about me being busy though. Don’t die until I get my favor.” She stood with her drink, finishing it in one go. “Tonight will be hell, clearing all that footage off records. Cleaning up everything.”

The old soldier swirled his drink in his glass, looking down at it. “You wouldn’t have heard anything about… Reyes, have you?”

“I’ve heard _lots_ of things about Reyes.” She pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “I was employed in Talon back then. If you want to know something, ask. Though be aware that information won’t come cheap.”

“Is he alive?” Jack asked, after a long moment, obviously wondering if it was worth getting the answer from the mouth of the devil.

Sombra hesitated, wondering how to answer that tit for tat. He obviously didn't want the whole truth. “Is Jack Morrison?” She answered by the question only Jack could answer, before she stretched. “I think you know the rest.” She left him there to contemplate that, the shadow leaving the soldier for the reaper.

XXXXX

Not two weeks later, Soldier: 76 was in Cairo, causing as beautiful a mess as she’d envisioned. Her hunch about Amari was proven correct. Her hunch about Gabriel not knowing about Amari was correct.

She sat at her table in Hakim’s compound, and smiled at the footage leftover from the incident, of the old soldiers getting back together.

At Gabriel Reyes aiming for the back and not the head.

At Gabriel Reyes using himself as the unenhanced human’s cushion on the fall.

At Ana’s frozen form when she unmasked him, at the words she cannot hear that he said to Amari before he left the fight, in spite of the fact he could have, _should have_ taken them then and there. Finished the job, and yet, he didn’t. He left it unfulfilled. Let Morrison and Amari go. No one would be happy about that. Not Doomfist, not Vialli or the rest of the corporate goons. Not even Reyes, if she took all the times the man had raved about getting his revenge at face value.

And yet, he’d done it anyways.

Interesting.


End file.
